@mongster is a Manila-based activist, former Philippine legislator, and blogger/analyst of Asia-Pacific affairs.
Written for Bulatlat The selfie is both derided and hailed as a popular form of self-expression; but politically-speaking, what does it really signify? The ‘butterfly effect’ reminds us that a flap of a butterfly’s wings can cause a hurricane on the other side of the world. Applied to the taking of selfies, perhaps it is […]
Written for Manila Today Aside from Joma Sison and the surviving participants of the First Quarter Storm era, no one has come forward to publicly admit that he or she is the leader of the Kabataang Makabayan or KM. There is no roster of KM officers, there are no KM chapters recognized by schools, there […]
Written for The Diplomat Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is seeking apology from those who criticized him in 2012 when the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) failed to issue a joint communique for the first time in the organization’s history during Cambodia’s chairmanship. In 2012, some analysts accused Cambodia, then the ASEAN chair, of […]
Written for Bulatlat Our country is on fire yet we continue to rank our islands based on what tourists want. Should we rejoice when travel magazines list some of our islands as among the must-see places in the world? Yes, of course. But it doesn’t mean we should adopt their standards to measure the relevance […]
